Meet up with James and Vicky at Greymouth, We pull up alongside them and their luxury camper. It is amazing it has lights, heating and everything!! We both park up at lake Komire for the night where me and Vic go from feeing like we are 8 again and camping in Woolacombe to mysteriously taking to the rolls of Jean and Christine with shout across the vans of "do you want a cup of tea" and "can we use your toaster" it is very strange but really nice. Head down...

After staying the night at Upper Hut the Townace rolls into Wellington on a clear and sunny day. We go up on the cable car to the Botanical gardens and wander around taking in some great views of the city and bays. Go to check out the Westpac stadium, hosting Lions game in June. We drive the Town ace right up to the stadium door and I sneak in for a picture of the pitch. Also head to Mt Victoria lookout and take in the views of the city lights that are awesome. A...

Finally dropped the squatters at the airport and began to head South. Pass back through Taupo which is strange being just the two of us, and the camper has gain a bit of speed. Result. Head through to Hastings where we camp up with a load of massive luxury campers, the town ace is out its league. We find a sky tv lounge and they have sofas and a widescreen TV with the premiership on, amazing. Turns out someone has left a nice yellow jacket at the camp, next...

After our night of luxury we hit the beach (Waihi) and have a relaxing day. It was really sunny and hot so we all run into the sea which was not - but very refreshing. Nick has his first kick around in three months while me and Kate top up our tans (or our streaky sunburn). We have lunch on the beach and then head on to Whargamata where we walk for 30mins to find a disserted beach with soft white sand and chill for a bit reading, chatting and drinking a few beers...

Haere mai! Taumarunui National Park aka Mordor/Mount Doom (Lord of the Rings) is very very cold and wet. National park contains volcanoes and land is surprisingly very volcanic. Very Mordor. Drive to Whakapapa ski area and cook up some omlette on the beast of a stove which has a great line on it which goes: "A stove for lovers of the wildlife who set up camp at the foot of a mountain or bank of a river." Walk up mountain over rocks where LOTR fi...